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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Understanding Two Economic and Political Realities
of Health Reform in the 2012 Election as Revealed by 37 Independent
Telephone Polls

The
end of understanding is not to prove and find reasons, but to know and believe.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), Characteristics

October 27, 2012 – An article in the October 25 New
England Journal of Medicine “Understanding Health Care in the 2012 Election”reveals two economic and political realities
of the 2012 election in a project supported
by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation consisting of 37 independent telephone
pollsconducted among both land-line and
cell-phone respondents.

Reality
#1 -Health reform is important but it
is dwarfed by economic issues: 81% of
respondents indicate health care is an important issue, but 51% choose the economy and jobs as as
their top issue, compared to 20% for health reform.

The most important issues for voters by percentage
of respondents are:

Rank #1 – Economy and jobs, 51%

Rank #2 – Health care and Medicare, 20%

Rank #3 – Federal budget deficit and taxes, 14%

Rank #4 – Abortion, 4%

Rank #5 – War in Afghanistan, 2%, and Immigration, 2%

Reality
#2 – Respondents favor current government programs of Medicare and Medicaid but
this favoritism is unlikely to influence their vote.

Candidate’s position, 1. More likely to vote for this
candidate,2. Less likely to vote for
this candidate, 3. no position.

·Supports repealing all or parts of
national health care law passed in 2010,
14%, 41%, 45%.

·Supports changing Medicare so that people 64 years of age or
older receive a payment or credit from the government each year for a fiexed amount
that they can use to shop for their private health insurance plan or purchase
Medicare coverage,11%, 39%, 50%.

·Supports changing Medicaid, the health insurance
program for low-income Amerians, from the current system to one in which the
federal government gives states a fixed amount of money and each state decides whom to cover
and what services to pay for. 8%, 35%, 57%.

Source: Robert J. Blendon, John M. Benson, and Amanda Brule, from Harvard School of Public Health and John F. Kennedy School of Government, "Understanding Health Care in 2012 Election," New England Journal of Medicine, October 25, 2012.

Tweet:Most
voters favor current government policies on Medicare and Medicaid but economic
issues are more likely to influence for whom they vote.

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